1. Field of Disclosure
This disclosure relates to a website defacement incident handling system and associated methodology and non-transitory computer program storage device for detecting a defacement of a website and taking appropriate corrective action upon detection of the defacement.
2. Description of Related Art
Businesses are increasingly relying on websites to market and sell products directly to consumers. In many cases, a website acts as a virtual storefront for businesses operating exclusively online and therefore maintaining the appearance of the website such that only authorized content is displayed to potential customers is of heightened importance.
Additionally, individual users often create websites to display content or to convey information to other Internet users. Thus, the appearance of the website is essentially an extension of the individual who created it and therefore maintaining the integrity of the website's appearance is also important.
Computer hackers pose a threat to a business or individual operating on the Internet due to the potential risk of a hacker breaching a web server security system and subsequently posting unauthorized material on the business' or individual's website. For example, a computer hacker may replace the images, text, or links which are normally displayed or embedded in a website with other unauthorized content which would damage the reputation of the business and potentially result in a loss of revenue.
Many systems and devices are currently available to prevent computer hackers from breaching a network and gaining unauthorized access to computer systems. These systems often rely on detecting unauthorized software applications (i.e. viruses) which are installed and/or running on computer systems. However, computer hackers may also alter a website's appearance using web elements which may not otherwise trigger actions in presently available web security systems. For example, a computer hacker may choose to place images or text content on a business' website which may not necessarily pose a threat to the health of the system or the health of a potential user's system. However, the images and/or text may contain messages and/or display images which may be inappropriate for customer viewing and consequently may harm the business' reputation and/or dissuade purchases and future web traffic at the affected site. Therefore, a company may wish to be alerted when such a website defacement occurs and may also desire that automated corrective actions be taken upon such an occurrence. For example, the company may wish to isolate the website or redirect web traffic to predetermined temporary websites following a defacement. Current security devices and anti-virus protection do not provide this defacement detection and prevention service.
The known security systems are of varying effectiveness and even the most effective security systems often allow security breaches to occur. As recognized by the present inventors, web administrators are not always monitoring the status of the websites for which they are responsible and therefore unauthorized content may be present on a website for prolonged periods of time without the web administrator's knowledge. Many online customers may therefore view the unauthorized content, which may consequently harm the public image of the business.
For the above-noted reasons, a system is needed for detecting the defacement of a website and taking appropriate corrective action when the defacement is detected.